Stephen Amell Workout Routine For Arrow: How To Gain Superhero Muscle

Okay…so being an absolute badass at shooting arrows isn’t necessarily a superpower, but it’s still pretty damn awesome.

I mean, who needs laser beams and adamantium claws?

Since Arrow is a show that constantly shows Stephen Amell working out shirtless, people are inevitably going to wonder how he got so ripped. Is it really as simple as sparring with your black driver and doing a bunch of crazy pull up variations?

Maybe you just need to build your own salmon ladder and you’ll be on your way to ripped superhero glory, right? Well let’s be realistic, looking like Stephen Amell isn’t a matter of fancy pull-up techniques.

If you want to build a ripped superhero body, then you need a solid foundation of muscle. No matter how low you get in bodyfat, it’s not going to look good if you look like a twig.

Stephen Amell Workout: Time to gain muscle

Your goal isn’t to look like Andrew Garfield in The Amazing Spiderman, who by the way was way too skinny for that role.

Your goal is to become the Green Arrow. Stephen Amell sports a more than decent amount of muscle. He’s not at that bodybuilder level of muscularity, but instead his muscle mass is a natural fit for his body: not too much, not too little.

And yes, I know Stephen does a lot of Parkour (freerunning) but that is out of my range of expertise and Parkour isn’t the best way to build muscle.

Principles you must follow in order to gain muscle:

If you’re not progressing, you will not gain muscle

The key to consistent muscle growth is progressive overload not gimmicky stuff like muscle confusion. This means you need to consistently be pushing more weight and more reps in order to spur muscle growth.

Lift weights 3-4x per week

Stephen Amell never officially said how often he worked out, but if your goal is to gain muscle and you’re a beginner, then don’t workout more than 4 times per week.

Any more than that is a bit overkill.

My Superhero X12 course is based around this principle. I also read on his Facebook page, that Stephen does yoga. This is fine for flexibility and mobility, but if you just want to look good naked then just focus on lifting weights.

Focus your workout on compound movements, but include isolation exercises as well

The majority of your workout should mainly be comprised of heavy movements such as presses and rows. But to gain the maximum amount of muscle you need some isolation exercises as well to really hit a specific muscle.

For example doing exercises like the incline shoulder press and military press will contribute to 80% of your shoulder development, but with throwing in some side lateral raises to really focus on those shoulders, you won’t maximize your shoulder growth.

Having wide shoulders is especially important since it contributes to the coveted V-taper physique that all guys should aim after. As a general rule, you should aim to build your shoulders to the point that they are 1.61 (the golden ratio) times bigger than your waist.

This is what Stephen Amell has which is why he looks so good.

Stephen Amell Arrow Diet

Obviously, any workout is incomplete without a solid diet plan.

Eat enough calories to build muscle (make sure you’re in a surplus)

One of the biggest mistakes that guys make (younger ones, especially) is that they train hard but don’t eat enough.

If you’re a beginner, you’ll undoubtedly see results from training alone but to maximize your gains you need to make sure you’re taking in enough calories. But at the same time, you can’t just start eating everything in site.

You want to gain the maximum amount of muscle with as little fat as possible.

A good formula to calculate this is: 16 kcal times your bodyweight in pounds.

If you start getting super fat, then start decreasing your calories by 100-200 per day. And vice versa if you’re don’t gain any weight.

Carb up

Too many calories make you fat, but there’s nothing specific about carbs that make you fat.

The plan of attack: Stephen Amell workout plan

Edited 09/25/16. I recently edited the arrow workout below based on feedback to make it more effective. Enjoy 🙂

Workout A – Chest/Triceps/Abs

Incline dumbbell press – 4 sets/4-6 reps

Flat dumbbell press (or use a barbell but I’m not a huge fan of the traditional bench press) – 3 sets/6-8reps

Weighted bar dips – 2 sets/8-10 reps

Overhead tricep extension – 4 sets/10-12 reps

Side lateral Raises – 5 sets/10-12 reps

Weighted cable crunches – 3-5 sets/10-12 reps Workout B – Legs/Calves

Workout B – Legs/Calves

Deadlift (conventional, sumo, or rack pulls if unable to do former two) – 5 sets/5 reps

Dumbbell Bulgarian split squat – 3 sets/4-6 reps per leg

Leg Press – 3 sets/8-10 reps

Dumbbell lunges – 2 sets/8 reps per leg

Calf raise (any variation) – 6 sets/10-15 reps

Workout C – Back/Biceps/Abs

Weighted pull ups – 5 sets/4-6 reps

Bent-over barbell row or cable row – 4 sets/6-8 reps

Barbell curls- 3 sets/8-10 reps

Alternating hammer curls – 3 sets/8-10 reps each arm

Weighted cable crunches – 3-5 sets/10-12 reps

Note: Stephen Amell workout program should be done on alternating days (M/W/F or T/Th/S)

How long will it take to get a body like Stephen Amell?

Ah, well isn’t this the million dollar question? I’m sure you all would love me to tell you that it’s only going to take exactly 6 weeks or 3 months of hard work and boom- you’ll have a lean and muscular superhero body.

But the truth is, I can’t tell you sh!t.

Everyone is different, meaning that it’s going to take everyone different amounts of time to achieve a body like Stephen Amell. Some guys might have more muscle to gain, other guys might have more fat to lose, while some guys might be in the middle (lose fat and build muscle).

It’s really hard for me to give you a time frame. But realistically you can expect a pretty drastic transformation (no matter what your starting point) if you train and diet consistently for 6 months.

Lean and muscular, NOT bulky is the way to go

No matter what your starting point, your end goal is to build a body akin to Stephen Amell. Getting a body like Stephen’s is a delicate art. You need to remember that Stephen has a Hollywood physique (lean and muscular, but not too bulky).

This is exactly why I created my full blown course, Superhero X12 to help guys get ripped and build a badass Hollywood body.

It covers everything you need to know, A-Z to get in superhero shape with ease. If you have any comments or questions on how to do Stephen Amell’s workout or how you should eat then be sure leave them in the comments below.

I’ve listened to and read a number of interviews with the actor. He says he rarely uses weights. Most of his exercises are bodyweight based. Of course probably high amount of sets, but in one interview he specifically says he rarely uses weights.

You DO NOT have to lift weight to look like that! Body resistance is more than enough. I’m not talking about basic calisthenics, though. One arm push ups, one arm pull ups, one legged squats handstand push ups, yoga. Just because you can’t look like that without weights doesn’t mean it isn’t possible.

Good read,and sounds like a solid program. Mike Mathews espouses a similar program and keeps his reps to 4-6 for most of the exercises. I was wondering though, you listed 3 workouts, but how do you implement them in the week to hit each group. Im used to doing just one bodypart per day 5 days a week, with bi/tries being condensed. Thx for your help

I have the same question. I guess what we mean is…are we meant to do workout A on Mon, workout B on Wed and workout C on Fri? Or all 3 in 1 day? But then what about the comment to boy workout more than 4 times in one week? It just doesn’t match up In a way that makes sense for some of us.

No offense to be made, love the workouts and explainations just need a bit more clarity.

For warmup sets, typically 3-4 sets before your first working set on big lifts like squat or bench press. Should start with 40% your working weight and each subsequent set, increase weight by 10% and decrease the reps.

Sorry to say, but this is a bad article, clearly not understanding science, and just have wrong information in general… So wrong, that i quickly stopped reading!

1.: “you need to consistently be pushing more weight and more reps in order to spur muscle growth.”

Have you ever looked, at the pretty perfected body of “Michael Jai White”!? He trained with a 10 KG weight…

2.: “Eat 0.8 – 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight”

We have known since before the 70’s, your body, no matter who you are or what you do, cannot use more than 0.64 Grams per 1 Pound body weight… Also, that amount that bodybuilders always recommend, is dating wayyyyy back, so the Gym’s could sell more of their Protein crap, so it’s just smart marketing for profit!

3.: “Carb up – Too many calories make you fat, but there’s nothing specific about carbs that make you fat.”

Your body does NOT need Carbs, as common believe, your body runs way better on Fat, doesn’t make you sick, like Carbs does, and yes, Carbs makes you Fat, as unused Carbs stores as Fat! All known Folk-Diseases, can be linked to Carbs, and yes that includes a way too long list, but Carbs feed disease, instead of fighting it, when you become inflammatory!

There is a lot of all these stupid myths staying alive, sadly, it is articles like this one, that makes people believe in that crap!

Also, the reason people have troubles with their Diet’s or workout, not giving them proper results, is because the body burns Carbs before Fat, making them lose motivation!

It has for many years, been known that our body’s favorite fuel is Carbs, but if that was true, we wouldn’t have Diabetes, would we? Artheritis, Asthma, Cancer, you name it, it is all linked to Carbs, as Carbs feed the inflammation, sadly…

People are still scared of Fat, which does not make sense, especially with Saturated Fat… Look out your window, you don’t see wild life skipping the Fat, infact, those are the first thing they go for, Organs are mostly Fat, ironically, we want to be the smartest species on earth, and we’re the only one, who went into a different direction, and ruined it for ourselves… 12.000 Years, of learning how to grow the earth, and now 1/3 of the Planet is Obese, and i’ve lost track, of how many people die each single day, for no reason at all, except that it is from some stupid condition, not a disease, because most can be reverted, just by changing your Diet!

Eat your Meat, healthy Fats, Vegetables, Nuts, Seeds, Berries, slow down on the Fruit’s though, although they are full of Vitamins, they are also full of Sugar, especially Fructose, and if something has gotten a bad “Health” reputation, it’s Alcohol, keep in mind, your Liver process Fructose the same way…